The Bloodforged Kin

Weeks had passed since that night. The first few days, everyone had moved through the motions of recovery - tending wounds, sleeping off exhaustion, pretending normalcy could return if they just went through familiar routines. But pretending only worked so long.

It had been Tess who finally decided enough was enough. She'd found Cass holed up in the Hendersons' abandoned house, living off canned goods and stubbornness. What followed wasn't pretty - a physical confrontation where she'd reminded him exactly who the parent was, followed by the kind of emotional battle that left them both raw and shaking. She'd dragged every ugly truth out into the light: his resentment, her fear, the terrible things they'd both done under Gabriel's influence.

But she was his mother. And mothers didn't abandon their children, not even when those children had tried to kill them. Especially not then.

The resolution hadn't been forgiveness exactly - some wounds needed time to heal properly. It was something more pragmatic and more powerful: the absolute refusal to let her family break apart. Cass was coming home, whether he thought he deserved it or not.

Now, three weeks later, he'd moved from the Hendersons' house to the Kowalskis', then the Garcias'. Close enough to home to want back in, far enough to punish himself for wanting it.

"Luna, go get your brother and tell him we're leaving. He's coming with us."

"I'll try, mom, but he said he's not ready to come back yet."

Tess stopped her packing and fixed Luna with a look. Ready or not, guilty or not, Cass was still her son. And they had work to do.

She stormed out of the house. With the voice of every parent who'd ever called a child home for dinner, she shouted into the neighborhood at large. "CASSIAN! Quit hiding and get over here right now! We're getting the power back on and you're coming with us. Don't make me come hunt you down!"

Her voice echoed through the silent neighborhood, then a response came from the direction of the old Murphy place.

"I can't, mom. You guys go ahead."

Can't. Not won't - can't. The guilt was eating him alive over there.

Tess's face went dark, but not with the anger Luna expected. This was the expression of a mother who'd spent three weeks watching her child torture himself.

She was gone at a sprint, moving faster than any human had a right to. She vaulted over the Kowalskis' fence, cut through their backyard, and found Cass sitting on the Murphy's back steps, staring at his hands.

"Time to go," she said.

He looked up, startled. "Mom, I told you-"

"I heard what you told me. I'm telling you different." She held out her hand. "Come on."

"I attacked you." The words came out flat, matter-of-fact. "I let him into my head and I attacked my own mother. How am I supposed to just... come home and pretend that didn't happen?"

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"You don't pretend it didn't happen. You live with it, you learn from it, and you do better. But you don't do it alone in someone else's backyard feeling sorry for yourself."

Cass's jaw tightened. "Maybe I deserve to feel sorry for myself."

"Maybe you do. But your family doesn't deserve to lose you because you can't figure out how to forgive yourself." She stepped closer. "We fought, Cassian. We bled together, we screamed at each other, we said terrible things. And then we decided we were still family. That decision doesn't get to be temporary just because you're scared."

He stood up slowly, lightning flickering around his feet - not aggressive, just nervous energy. "What if it happens again? What if someone else comes along and I-"

"Then we'll deal with it then. Together. Like a family." She held his gaze. "But running away and hiding isn't protecting anyone. It's just making you weaker."

The lightning faded. Cass looked away, then back at his mother's outstretched hand.

"The neighborhood won't trust me."

"Probably not. But if you want to earn that trust back, you'll have to start somewhere. We can start by getting this neighborhood back up and running. Your dad wants to start helping everyone in the neighborhood stronger - he wants to build some sort of community militia or army or something and he thinks the first step is giving them the comfort of electricity."

Cass paled at her words. "They're not going to trust us. They're not going to trust me."

They stopped and she turned to regard her son. She hated seeing the shame on his face but was glad it was there. Better that than no shame at all. She reached out to hug him but thought better of it, resting her hand on his shoulder instead.

"They probably won't, Honey. But if you're going to make up for what you've done you'll have to start somewhere. Let's take the first step, we'll figure the rest out later."

Cass mumbled something under his breath but her perfect hearing caught it. She froze in place, her heartbeat doubling. Through gritted teeth she asked, "What was that?"

He looked up in shock, surprised that she'd heard him. He waffled but realized it was too late to lie. "I just said that Gabriel brought everyone together and built an army."

"The things that son-of-a-bitch did…" Tess's voice was quavering.

"I know, mom! I know," Cass cut her off. "I'm not saying everything he did was great or that his motivations were pure, I'm just saying that he DID bring everyone together."

Tess took a deep, steadying breath. Don't start this fight now. Focus on the task at hand. Without a word she turned and stalked back to the house, Cass following silently behind her.

They walked back to the house in silence, Cass's shoulders gradually straightening as they got closer to home.

Twenty minutes later they were in the SUV and pulling onto the road. Zavier had been surprised to see Cass, hope and wariness warring in his expression. A warning look from Tess had stopped him from saying anything beyond a quiet "Good to have you with us, son." Cass had just nodded and climbed into the backseat.

Zavier looked at the gas gauge with no small amount of trepidation.

"We may have to siphon some gas, we're running a little low here," he said.

"Plenty of cars on the way," Tess replied.

Zavier put the car into drive with an "Excelsior!" but was interrupted by a small figure running across the street, waving its arms frantically.

"Is that Madison?" Zavier asked.

She skidded to a stop in front of the SUV and Luna jumped out of the vehicle, running around to meet her. The two girls hugged tightly, then Luna cupped Madison's face in her hands and leaned down to give her a lasting kiss on the lips. Zavier and Tess met each others' gazes with raised eyebrows, then Luna was back in the car.

"So…" Zavier said.

"Shut up, dad," Luna replied, refusing to meet his grinning expression in the mirror.

"What?" He said. "I was just going to say 'EXCELSIOR!'"